- Price
- $81.01 → $83.80(+3.4%)
- Discount
- 47.4% → 45.6%(−1.8 pts)
- Next earnings
- 2026-11-03 → 2026-11-02
- Balance sheet
- Cash: $143M
Debt: $5.1B
Net debt: $4.9B
EBITDA, last 12 months: $1.2B
Net debt / EBITDA: 4.2× (high)
Interest cover: 7.0×
Undrawn credit line: $2.0B
Ratings: S&P BBB, Moody's Baa1
Clorox borrowed to buy GOJO for about $2.15 billion in April 2026, and the debt now limits its choices. Dividends of $602 million were larger than fiscal 2026 free cash flow of $405 million before the one-time $476 million Glad payment. Most of its debt is unsecured debt of the parent company. At June 30, 2026, debt wasDebt does not include $5.07 billion, plus $530 million of lease liabilities. At June 30, 2026, $3.98 billion was fixed-rate senior notes, including $1.5 billion of new notes from May 2026, due 2031 to 2036. $1.09 billion was commercial paper at floating rates. Cash was only $143 million. Thus net debt before leases was about $4.9 billion, about 4.2 timesEBITDA is for fiscal 2026 EBITDA of $1.17 billion., and interest cover uses EBIT of $921 million covered interest expense of $130 million about 7 times. GOJO added profit for only one quarter. Interest cost will rise in fiscal 2027, because the new debt is outstanding for the full year. Long-term debt maturities are small until $901 million in fiscal 2028. $1.96 billion of revolving credit lines were undrawn, but $764 million of that amountthe undrawn credit lines expires on March 5, 2027. S&P cut theits long-term rating to BBB from BBB+ in February 2026, and Moody's rated Clorox Baa1 at June 30, 2026. A cut below investment grade would let derivative counterparties ask for full collateral. Equity that Clorox shareholders own was only $90 million because of years of buybacks. This is not a solvency problem by itself. But dividends of $602 million were larger than fiscal 2026 free cash flow of $405 million before the one-time $476 million Glad payment. The debt limits Clorox's choices. The cash must go to the dividend and to debt reduction toward the 2.5 times target by the end of calendar 2027. This leaves little room for buybacks or another deal.
As of 2026-06-30.
- Checkpoints
- Nov 32, 2026 (estimate): Fiscal Q1 2027 earnings: sales rebound and leverage. Pending. Watch: Organic sales growth on track for the 3.5% to 4.5% fiscal 2027 range and lower net debt pass; another sales decline or higher leverage fails.
Feb 2027 (estimate): Fiscal Q2 2027 earnings: margin repair and GOJO. Pending. Watch: Gross margin growth and GOJO profit in line with plan pass; a guidance cut or a new credit downgrade fails.
Q1 2027 (estimate): Board names a permanent CEO. Pending. Watch: A named successor with a clear plan for GOJO and debt reduction passes; a search that continues past fiscal Q3 2027 fails.
Dec 2027 (estimate): Leverage back near 2.5 times EBITDA. Pending. Watch: Net leverage near 2.5 times by the end of calendar 2027 passes; leverage still above 3.5 times fails.